


Jocasta

by Stewbacca94



Series: RWBY Reddit Ramblings [25]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Goddesses, POV First Person, Twelve Gods of Olympus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 00:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20684696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stewbacca94/pseuds/Stewbacca94
Summary: After an explosive end to Salem's life, Blake was making an important discovery; that she was dead. Nothing could've prepared her for what happened next.





	Jocasta

### Jocasta

The void was all I beheld for the longest time, as I languished in the throes of nothingness. I wondered if this was hell, and the afterlife seen in the vision of Jinn years ago wouldn't be my fate at all. However, all speculation on this ended as soon as I realised I was still breathing. Eventually, I found the strength to open my eyes, and gradually became aware of my pain-wracked body as I lay slumped upon the ground. It was as though Salem's explosive death at the hands of the Relics had knocked the life out of me.

As I straightened myself up and worked the pain out of my body, I realised that I stood within a courtyard of dead grass, bifurcated by a path of grey stonework that matched the walls, all four of which stretched into the foreseeable distance above my head. In the distance, three portals were hewn into the wall furthest from me, with a pair of thrones halfway between them and me. But most strangely, my combat outfit was immaculate – as though Salem's violent end had been mere chaff to the wind. I supposed then that Ruby had a point when extolling the virtues of combat skirts – and that I had been right to switch over to one in Vacuo.

When I began to walk on the path towards the thrones, desperate to discover where I wound up, I noticed two spectral figures emerging from a trap door beneath the thrones. One was dark-skinned, muscle-bound and tall – even more so than my father – and he was clothed in obsidian armour, while the other looked fair-skinned, and had draped a gown of gossamer over her lithe body. A garland of flowers laid upon her head, while the man wore a circlet of steel.

Moving closer, I saw an enormous three-headed dog, with one head each watching one of the portals. Fear seized me like a fever as I trembled before the mysterious figures, who had become corporeal by the time I had reached them.

“Blake Jocasta Belladonna,” the tall man spoke in a thunderous baritone, “you have passed into the afterli-”

Before the man could finish, a bright flash _thundered_ from above. As the flash cleared, three figures had materialised before me, facing the man. All three wore hooded cloaks – the one on the left wore red, the right one was draped in blue, and the middle one wore gold.

“Leave her, Hades,” the one in red commanded. “She isn't yours to claim.”

“Who are _you_ to say that to my husband, Mother?!”, the woman demanded.

“_My_ husband extended his permission for her to join us, Persephone,” the one in blue assured.

“Hera speaks the truth,” said the one in gold. “She was our ally against the machinations of Perses, who had tried to corrupt the new world Prometheus and him had created through making the immortal monster known as Salem. We asked that Blake's heroics be rewarded by her joining us in this life, and Zeus agreed.”

The woman appeared mollified, while the tall man nodded. By this point, I was _extremely_ confused, and rather afraid after realising that I _hadn't_ survived the battle at all.

“As you wish, Aphrodite,” the man spoke, before turning to me. “You are to go with them.”

No sooner had I nodded in response than the three figures turned and walked towards me. I _instantly_ recognised who they were – my teammates.

“Ruby? Weiss? Yang?”, I said in shock. “What's going on?”

“Nothing to be worried about,” “Yang” responded, before laying a hand on me. A flash happened again, and I felt myself hurtling into another realm beyond the grey halls of Hades. All I could see was a near-blinding light, and I closed my eyes until the sensation faded.

* * *

After I felt myself settle into one place, I opened my eyes and found myself standing atop a snow-capped mountain that seemingly had no bottom to it, floating upon a cloud within a warm azure skyline. The summit itself wasn't that wide, barely fifty metres across in all directions, and most of it was occupied by a platform of marble that seemed to float a few centimetres in the air. “Yang” and “Weiss” stood either side of me, while “Ruby” walked towards me.

As she did so, I realised that all three of them had changed appearances suddenly. “Ruby” now wore a dress of green with a red rose embroidered on it, while “Weiss” wore a blue toga. As for “Yang”, she was nude, save for a thin golden sarong. Their eyes now glowed, and they had donned tiaras of bronze, gold and brass respectively. In fact, the golden crown “Weiss” wore was the Crown of Choice. I saw then that “Ruby” held the Staff of Creation while “Yang” held the Lantern of Knowledge. The Sword of Destruction, however, lay between us.

“Blake,” my erstwhile leader began, “my true name is Demeter, the Olympian goddess of nature.”

Suddenly, I remembered a lecture from the past, one of Oobleck's coffee-fuelled ramblings about ancient mythologies, that mentioned that name. Clearly, the Two Brothers weren't the _only_ gods hobnobbing around Remnant in ancient times.

“Demeter,” I repeated, committing the name to memory. “What are the others called?”

“The one you called Yang is in fact Aphrodite, our goddess of love and beauty,” Demeter continued, “while Hera over there is the queen consort of Olympus, and watches over marriage and motherhood.”

“Why were you three on Remnant in the first place?”, I asked softly. “Were you my friends the whole time I knew you?”

“For much longer, actually,” Hera admitted. “As you heard us say to Hades beforehand, two titans – our predecessors as gods – came to Remnant and created the first humans. They were Prometheus, titan of creation and mortal life, and Perses, the titan of destruction.”

“The Twin Gods, as Remnant called them,” I noted.

“Indeed,” Demeter confirmed. “However, their destruction of humanity and consequent punishment of Salem was unforgivable. First, we coerced Prometheus into restoring humanity, and he went to the length of crafting these “relics” for the purpose of summoning him and Perses to judge Remnant's worthiness after restoring humanity from their original remains – he then created the Faunus specifically to test Ozma's capacity to unite Remnant.”

“I find myself pretty irked at that notion, to be honest,” I said with some darkness to my voice.

“I know,” Hera soothed. “But it matters naught in the end. The Faunus are just as worthy of life as humans are.”

“Which leads me to _why_ Zeus spared you from the afterlife,” Demeter continued. “For many years now, the Faunus have never had a patron of their own. Each facet of life needs to be shaped by a god, otherwise it will wither and die.”

“How come my species survived over the millenia, then?”, I interject.

“Because the Faunus was passed around the gods,” Demeter replied. “We shared that responsibility until the White Fang were created. At the time, myself, Hera and Aphrodite were arguing over who should take the patronage up until Perses used Salem as an unwitting conduit and exerted control over the Faunus.”

“And the extremism began because of that,” I finished.

“We were so guilt-ridden over the whole thing,” Hera continued, “not to mention enraged at Perses, that we decided to enter Remnant in the guise of mortals to save it. With Salem's defeat, Perses lost his influence over the Faunus. That is where you come in.”

At this point, Aphrodite picked up the Sword of Destruction and turned to hand it to me.

“Pick up your blade, Blake, and step onto the platform.”

As I picked up the hilt, a surge of power thrummed through my body. Demeter, Hera and Aphrodite's mortal guises vanished, confirming them to be illusions. I held onto the blade, and dashed onto the marble platform as the power increased. As I did so, I saw the summit fall below my eyes as my body began to grow, never stopping until my feet filled the entirety of the platform. I also realised that the sword was bonded to my soul now, as I could feel its energies coursing through my veins in sync with my breathing. Suddenly, the platform enveloped me in a mist of white energy, and I felt myself teleporting somewhere else.

* * *

As the mist faded, I found myself standing on an identical platform within a pristine palace of white marble, dressed in a purple dress that looked similar to Demeter's. Stepping off the platform, I noticed the cornucopia of tapestries and paintings adorning the walls, along with the columns that supported the glass roof. The whole palace was so large that I felt like I was still five-feet-six tall, rather than the ridiculous height I actually was.

Up ahead, I saw Demeter, Hera and Aphrodite waiting for me to arrive, along with a powerful looking figure behind them. He was taller than Hades had been, with white skin and a greying beard. I instinctively knew he was Hera's husband just by looking at him.

“Welcome, new god,” he intoned calmly. “I am Zeus, King of Olympus and the god of the air and the thunder. While I invested you with the power to govern the Faunus as their patron, you will need at least two more spheres of influence to remain a god.”

“Justice doesn't technically have one,” Hera promptly pointed out, “so we could give her that.”

“True,” Zeus allowed, “Although Hermes does try to oversee it, having her do that would take some pressure off of him."

“What about chastity?” Aphrodite said. “I don't think _anyone's_ ever had that as a sphere before.”

“Hestia tried to do that,” Zeus admitted. “However, she's already got five spheres to see to, so I can see the point of that.”

He turned to me, and I felt the surges of power that came with my new positions. I felt more alive than I ever did in that moment.

“Henceforth,” Zeus commanded, “you will be known as Jocasta, the goddess of the Faunus, justice and chastity.”

I smiled. “Agreed.”

* * *

**A/N: Jocasta, for the record, is a Greek name meaning "purple tinted".**


End file.
